How to Conduct an AS9100 Internal Audit?

by Isabel Blamey Professional writer

One of the major elements required for ensuring the efficiency of your aerospace Quality Management System or QMS is the internal process. Internal audit inspects each of the system associated with the aerospace quality management system, That’s why it becomes easier for you to understand whether the functions are meeting the requirements they are meant for or not. A continuing evaluation of the QMS will help you track the consistency of your QMS.

Well, I have talked a lot about the importance of AS9100 internal audit. Now, it’s important to learn how you should perform this internal audit. Don’t worry! I am here to help you out. In this blog, I am going to share with you six steps that you take you to a successful internal audit.

Internal Audit Steps

Before exploring the steps, let me remind you what an internal audit process is. The internal audit process is an organized way of comparing what is happening in reality to what were the desired outputs. With an internal audit, you will be able to ensure that the running operations are happening according to the plan. Moreover, the internal audit helps a business verify whether the system is implemented properly or not.

Listed below are the six steps you need to undertake to complete an internal audit

1. Audit program

The first step is to plan and develop your audit program. First, identify:
Who is responsible for the audit?
Which processes should be inspected, and how often these processes should be checked?

· How would you prefer to report the audit?

Identification of these aspects is going to take some time because the importance of each of the processes should be analyzed along with the changes, which are coming to your business. Once you have correctly identified and analyzed the aspects, you will be able to schedule your audit program in the best possible way. This step is common to every ISO internal audit including ISO 27001 internal audit and ISO 9001 internal audit.

2. Audit scope and criteria

For each audit, you should define the extent of the audit as well as the expected outputs for each of the processes. For instance, if you have planned for a purchasing procedure that is used by your purchasing department, then you should consider the activities of each of the departments as the scope. Then what is the audit criterion? The procedure of each department is called the audit criteria. Processes, which are not written, may need you to define what your criteria are.

A clear insight into the audit criteria and scope will enable your internal auditor to target the right places that really need an inspection and further improvement.

3. Selection of auditors and performance of the audit

You need experts for performing the audit. Here pops up a question. How do you ensure that your internal auditors are impartial in their auditing? What do you think your auditors must possess for performing the internal audit? Based on the required skills, you need to select the individuals who can do justice with your project. Make sure that your auditors have a clear concept about the criteria and scope. Without having the right knowledge of the criteria and scope specific to your business, the auditors will not be able to compare the current state of your QMS with the expected state.

4. Report audit results

Even a child can tell you that without an audit report, the AS9100 internal audit would be useless. The process owners are required to assume correctly the outcome of the audit. It enables the auditors to investigate how the processes are performing and how far they are working as per the expectation. Apart from providing you with the current state of your QMS, the audit report should predict correctly if there is any chance of a problem taking place. Additionally, the top management review needs to include detailed audit findings so that the organization can employ adequate resources for addressing the issues reported in the internal audit report.

5. Correction and corrective action

If any problem arises, it is obvious that the problem should be addressed without any delay. When the problem is a systematic one, then you may need adequate corrective action so that you identify the root cause of the problem and eliminate it from the root.

6. Maintenance of audit records

Once you have got the audit reports and addressed the identified issues, you should keep maintaining the corrective actions to avoid such defects in the future.

By following these six steps, you will be able to conduct a successful internal audit program for your aerospace quality management system.